Page 56 of The Summer Club

“I started feeling so sure of myself and I began sketching right away. But now I look at the canvas and I have no idea what direction it’s going in.”

Charley nodded. “Sort of like this summer.”

Cora wandered back out to the sunroom. She stared at her raw canvas. At the pencil lines of her faceless people. At the beach path with no end. There was something she needed to do. And suddenly, it hit her.

She took the narrow stairs down to the basement. In the darkness she fumbled about for the lightbulb chain and pulled it impatiently. There, in the dimly lit corner, was the storage shelf where she’d hidden it.

Over the years, Charley and Cora had brought many things from their Connecticut house to Riptide. Things they needed at the cottage: tools, an old vacuum cleaner, runoff belongings that they didn’t have the heart to toss but never ended up using at the cottage. Even a few Christmas decorations for the one year they celebrated it here. But there was a particular thing Cora had purposely brought up one summer, something that she never even told Charley about. It was because she couldn’t stand the thought of keeping it in their family home. But she couldn’t get rid of it either. Cora exhaled with relief when she found it on the bottom shelf, shoved behind a few cans of old paint.

The shoebox was a bit crumpled, the cardboard soft from basement air. But to her relief, the photos inside were still fine. Sitting cross-legged on the concrete floor, Cora pulled out a stack and flipped through. There she was, a college girl at Vassar, smiling at the camera with her freshman-year roommate. Her hair was so golden, her complexion so bright. Ah, youth! One was of her and a boy whose name she couldn’t recall, all dressed up for a dance. Another was her friend, Audrey, at a soccer game one fall. Cora traced her old friend’s face lovingly. How long had it been since she’d talked to Audrey? But none of that was what she was looking for.

She set them aside and grabbed another handful. A few photos in, there he was: Robert. Cora studied him. Thick, brown hair, like Hugh’s. Those dark, almond-shaped eyes that both twins had inherited. He sat at his dorm desk, glancing over his shoulder at the camera. Cora wondered if it were she who’d taken the picture. The next photo was of the two of them. Robert had his arm thrown around her shoulders and she was looking sideways at him. Cora saw it now; the casual ease of that arm. His intense gaze, only for the lens. While hers was fixed on him. What a naïve girl she’d been.

She set it down and riffled through the rest. Finally, she settled on one of Robert alone. He was sitting on a stone wall in the campus arboretum. It was fall, the leaves dense with color. Robert looked benign in this photo, she decided; a safe choice. Not too full of himself, not too comedic. No doubt very handsome and oh-so-young. This was the right one. She tucked it carefully in her back pocket.

Back upstairs, she found the bacon had gone and done its job, rousing everyone from their beds. As they finished breakfast and scraped plates and poured more coffee, Cora studied her adult children. Hugh still made that face whenever someone said something he didn’t like. “You guys have an appointment today to get your wedding suits fitted,” Sydney announced. “Remember?”

There it was again: Hugh’s furrowed brow.

“How was last night?” Charley ventured. After dinner at the Grill, the kids had gone out for drinks while she and Charley had begged off. They were treading carefully. The kids were allowing them to share the same space and some conversation, which was a start. But the hard stuff hadn’t been dealt with yet.

“Andi has a crush,” Hugh exclaimed.

Cora looked to her daughter, whose fierce red cheeks gave her away.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Andi insisted.

Martin was gentler. “Well, let’s just say an invitation to dinner was issued. And neither Hugh nor I was invited.”

“Nor me.” Sydney chuckled.

“Is that so?” Cora asked. She pressed her hand to the photo tucked safely in her back pocket. It could wait.

“So I’m having dinner with Nate,” Andi allowed. “But that’s it. Dinner. You can all go back to your regularly scheduled programs now.” And with that, she swept her phone and book from the counter and slipped upstairs before anyone could ask for more details.

“Where is Nate taking her? And when?” Suddenly, Cora was hungry for details. She would like to see Andi allow herself to have a little fun. And besides, Nate was a known commodity. A safe start for a first venture into dating.

Martin shrugged.

“No clue,” Hugh said.

“Impudent Oyster, seven o’clock, tonight,” Sydney told them all. You could always count on Syd. As the youngest, she’d spent enough years in the background listening in and taking notes. “Back to suit fittings. Hugh, I really need to check this off my wedding list,” Sydney pleaded.

Hugh groaned. “I was planning to go to the beach.”

“Just go now and you’ll have the whole day for the beach.”

“All right, all right.” He looked to Martin. “Come with? We can hit some shops while we’re in town.”

As chairs scraped the hardwood floors and dishes clattered into the sink, Cora felt the photo burning a hole in her pocket. Now, she thought to herself. But Andi was upstairs. And she didn’t know if Sydney and Martin should be a part of it.

Charley looked at her. “Breakfast dishes are washed. Should I go get changed for the beach, or did you want to paint instead?”

Neither, Cora thought. She stood up, but Hugh was already heading for the door, looking for his keys. “Wait!”

Her voice gave her away.

Hugh halted at the screen door, a look of concern on his face. “You okay, Mom?”